"For ere that He made us He loved us, and when we were made we loved Him."
Julian of Norwich (Ch. 53)
Sometimes we may say to ourselves that if our friends really knew all about us, they wouldn't want to be our friends. Yet God is the Father and Friend who truly knows all about us, knew every failure we would have throughout our lives, knew every secret struggle or hangup we would have, and He loved us. He loved us and knowing all that we would do, He chose to create us. There was no question in God's mind about us. He couldn't bear to be in this universe without us. We have the joy of knowing that Someone knows everything about us and still loves us, still accepts us, still rejoices over us. He has already known about our whole lives in advance and embraced us in love with all our messes. His love came before any of our behavior and is not tied to any of our behavior, so our behavior could never alter that love. So we never have to worry that God does not really love us or will stop loving us if we do a certain wrong.
As wonderful as it is that God loved us before He even created us, it is also wonderful to find out that when we were created, we loved God. This love is a created love that God made or put within us. While God's love is uncreated, our love is created by God, who is Love, Himself. So our love for God flows forth from His own love for us. God has created us with a natural love for our Creator and our fellow humans. Just as little children naturally want their parents' affection and care and naturally reach out in love for them, so we naturally want our Father God's affection and care and naturally reach out in love for Him. We haven't always expressed it, and it has gotten trapped under other negative emotions, but it is still there. Christ came to release and free this love and He succeeded. So we don't have to worry that we are uncaring or rebels at heart; we by nature have a love for God within us.
"We love Him, because He first loved us."
1 John 4:19 (KJV)
A Prayer: Thank You for loving me so completely!